


Broken souls and mended cracks

by Verse



Series: Terrible pjo au [1]
Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/F, F/M, Possession, Reincarnation, broken souls, kinda dead pople, sorta - Freeform, terrible terrible au, thalia doing percy's stuff since i removed him from the main story haha, uuuh, what even is this
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-22
Updated: 2016-02-22
Packaged: 2018-05-22 15:29:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,196
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6085002
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Verse/pseuds/Verse
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In 1944, Annabeth and Percy fall into Tartarus.<br/>In 1992, Jason and Piper are born.</p><p>Or: in which Nico finds something unexpected in Tartarus</p>
            </blockquote>





	Broken souls and mended cracks

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Wodahn](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Wodahn/gifts).



> I spent way too much time on this
> 
> edit 03/03/2017: corrected a few typos and awkward turn of phrases

 

_« Percy, let go! You can't pull me up! »_

_« You're not getting away from me. Never again._

 

* * *

 

In 1944, Annabeth and Percy fall into Tartarus.

In 1992, Jason and Piper are born.

 

* * *

 

If anyone asked Jason -which would never happen, because 1) that'd be an oddly specific question to ask and 2) very few people are close enough to the praetor to dare asking that kind of things- but if anyone asked Jason, he'd tell them that there's something, in his soul, in his core, that _hurts_. He'd tell that sometimes he feels incomplete, like there's a piece of him missing.

But nobody asks, and Jason says nothing.

 

* * *

 

If anyone asked Piper -which would never happen, because 1) she's lived all her life this way anyway, she's not exactly aware that it's not normal and 2) Leo is pretty much the only one who cares enough about her to ask anything if he'd had any clues, which he doesn't- but if anyone asked Piper, she'd tell them that sometimes, she feels like a half of a whole, like a puzzle with missing pieces. She'd tell that sometimes, it's like her soul had been clawed at and chewed on, sometimes it makes her so sick she can barely move.

But nobody asks, and Piper says nothing.

 

* * *

 

If anyone asked Rachel -but seriously, who would ask her, especially about these two?- but if anyone asked Rachel, her answer would be pretty blunt.

_How can they even function._

Because Rachel sees, sees- she guided Thalia through the Labyrinth, after all; nothing escape her sight- and what Rachel sees is a _broken, mangled soul._

Thankfully, she only sees Jason for a few days before he goes on his quest- Rachel just has to avert her eyes from him and she can ignore the glowing cracks in his soul pulsing in pain.

But Piper, oh, Piper- Rachel has nightmares for _years_ about her. She doesn't even need to see her anymore; she'd known her for long enough to start to _hear_ her soul screaming.

Nobody asks, and Rachel doesn't tell; but she still wonders how in hells can these to live.

 

* * *

 

Nico swallows hard, staggering forward. He'd been so so freaking _stupid_. What did he even think? That he owns hells? He thinks bitterly back to all the times he'd called Thalia out for being reckless. At least, she hadn't gotten herself stuck into _Tartarus_.

He falls on his knees beside the Phlegethon . He's all alone. There's no god to help him, no Bianca to cradle him, no Thalia to save his skin again.

The fire burns all the way down his throat.

He'll just have to save himself, then.

 

* * *

 

The shadows cast by the burning river follow him.

Nico doesn't notice.

(It'd been a while since anyone had been down there; they're curious.)

 

* * *

 

Nico has two major advantages: he knows where he's going, and he knows what he's capable of.

Following the river and get to the Doors of Death without dying. Easy enough.

Nico walks. He doesn't know for how long. He walks, walks, avoids monsters, walks, hides, and walks some more.

Thankfully, again, he is well aware of his capacities- and his limits. When his knees threaten to buckle for the third time in a row, he decides to call it a day.

He curls between two hard rocks and positively _crashes_.

 

* * *

 

" ….Kid... "

" ….Kid, wake up!! "

Nico opens his eyes with a jolt, hand dashing for his sword. The cold iron beneath his fingers achieve to wake him up.

He blinks. Once. Twice.

There's no one here.

" Come on kid, you need to leave! Monsters are coming!! "

Nico turns around fast enough to give himself a whiplash.

There is a shadow behind him. No, two. Stylized dragon heads with no body and no permanent form, constantly twitching.

" Kid, you need to hurry, now! " They both repeat, voices filled with urgency.

Nico knows better than to argue.

 

* * *

 

Nico leans on Hermes's altar, panting. The chase had being long, and exhausting. If not for the stalking shadows giving him warnings and directions, he doesn't think he'd have made it uncaptured.

" So what are you exactly? " he asks between breathes.

One of the shadows gives itself shoulders to shrug.

" The name's Annabeth. "

" I'm Percy. "

 

* * *

 

Truth to be told, Nico doesn't really trust them at first; but Percy and Annabeth turns out to be way more useful than he would have thought it possible for monsters. They know all the shortcuts and safe places, can spot monsters coming from miles away, and always take the watch when he need to sleep. It's hard not to warm up to them in these conditions.

(Of course, _Nico_ 's way of warming up to people is pretty unusual, but that's another topic entirely.)

" Why are you helping me? " he asks, one (night? day? time doesn't really have a meaning here.)

He knows he touched a sensible topic when he notices the shadows stop twitching.

It's the first time they don't answer him.

 

* * *

 

" We used to be like you, you know. "

Nico is caught off-guard by the comment, half-asleep, and thus replies with a very elaborate " Uh? "

Percy curls on Nico's arm, taking the form of an intricate tattoo- Nico had discovered on his way out of Tartarus that they're less shadows than shifting sentient black oil. They can even lift themselves off the 2D ground, if they really want (but it is , according to them, pretty hard, so they don't do it often.)

" Demigods. Heroes. Whatever. We were like you. And then we fell in there. "

Annabeth snickers behind them.

" Actually, I fell, and that seaweed brain couldn't let go and fell with me rather than save his own skin. »

This time it's Percy's turn to laugh- it's bitter, if still happy.

" They're called fatal flaws for a reason. No regrets, though. "

Nico can barely believes what they're telling him.

" Hold on hold on- I don't remember anyone ever surviving Tartarus? " If they had, it meant-

" Nico, have you _looked_ at us? We didn't _survive_. "

" We died. "

Oh.

But- they-

" Tartarus is a prison, Nico. Mortal souls are supposed to go to hells when they die, but this place is really good at keeping what it swallowed. "

Nico swallows- hard. That meant- that meant-

" What happened when you died? » maybe he was wrong, oh please let him be wrong « Guys, what happened when you died? "

Annabeth's head hangs low. Percy doesn't look at him when she answers.

" They tore. Our souls- they tore off. We are the literal shadows of what we used to be. "

They don't speak again that day.

 

* * *

 

Nico gulps.

He'd known the Doors of Death would be guarded.

He still hadn't expected that.

" Don't worry. We have a plan, remember? "

Nico does remember. It's a crazy, stupid, dangerous plan they aren't even sure will work.

But what else do they have?

 

* * *

 

Percy goes first- Annabeth will join them after cutting the chains locking the Doors where they are.

It's a really weird feeling- like Nico had swallowed a snake who kept moving on its way down. Another consciousness settle beside his, and his first knee-jerk reaction is to fight it, get it out-

" Nico!! Calm down, it's just me. "

It's Nico's voice, but Percy's words. Nico stops immediately, remembering the plan.

" Sorry. I've never- you know. Been possessed before. "

" Yeah, not a nice feeling, I understand. Necessary right now, though. "

Nico nods. He can feel- even _see_ \- Percy's essence leaking off him. Black oil is dripping from one of his ears. His flesh feels shifty, too solid.

He hopes Annabeth hurry.

 

* * *

 

The moment he feels Annabeth joining them, Nico _sprints_.

Monsters and titans are screaming- how can chains just get cut out of nowhere?

In the confusion, nobody notices the boy smelling of death and feeling like he should not exist.

He settles in the elevator with a group of monsters, invisible.

He's the only one to get out.

 

* * *

 

Hazel is too happy to get her brother back to question him too much. Even the most wary ones -cough Jason cough- barely notice the two new tattoos on his ankles.

And no one notices them moving when they think nobody is watching.

 

* * *

 

For the first time in decades, Percy and Annabeth see the sun.

Nico is the only one to hear their laughs on his skin.

 

* * *

 

Nico had no idea stargazing on a flying ship with talking shadows could be so satisfying.

 

* * *

 

Things go wrong, once again, because such is the life of a demigod.

Monsters overwhelm the Argo ii, claw holes on the wood and sink teeth in fresh flesh. Even if they're pretty much the most powerful demigods in existence, there's only so much they can take before they start to weaken.

They have to face it. They're going to lose.

Nico is positive his leg is broken. There's no dead for him to summon. The others don't look far from ending in his situation.

They're going to lose. It's game over. Time to fold your cards.

Nico guesses now is a good time as any to show the cards hidden in his sleeves.

(Nico had been a champion at Mythomagic in his time for a reason.)

" Help us. Please. "

Unnoticed by others, ink snakes fly off his arms and slide along the deck.

 

* * *

 

Jason is on the verge of collapsing. Even with Thalia's help, the storm is just too big to maintain.

Exhausted, he closes his eyes blue.

They open grey.

Jason was exhausted; but Annabeth is quite literally a sentient source of energy, and she hadn't fought any real battles since her death. Beside, she'd always wondered how Percy felt when he used his powers.

She raises both hands -Jason's hands- and lets hell go loose.

 

* * *

 

Piper has never felt so useless before. At least Leo has his fire. Her? She has nothing to harm the opponents. Nothing but a pretty voice with too little determination to help.

She blinks, wiping away sweat from her forehead- she needs to think of a plan, and fast.

Her eyes settle on a single color- green, like the sea.

The thing is- charmspeak isn't nearly as efficient if you don't believe in what you're saying, or if you are reluctant to give your orders. Piper is young and inexperienced. That's about the only thing stopping her power from wrecking havoc.

Percy has convinced an entire army to fight with him. He'd talked the ocean into sinking entire ships in his name. And, more important, he'd thrown his morals away a couple days into Tartarus.

There is nothing holding his -her- power back when he flashes a smile at a monster and asks, very politely, for him to jump off the ship.

 

* * *

 

They win the battle.

Despite how awesome people keep telling them they were, neither Jason nor Piper remember what they've done.

 

* * *

 

They dream of pain that night.

Jason dreams of spiders and broken ankles, of held-up skies and claws digging in his throat.

Piper dreams of fire and water, of bullets in her skin and blades slicing through her chest.

(They dream of memories the Lethe couldn't quite erase)

They wake up screaming.

 

* * *

 

Annabeth waits for Nico to be asleep to speak up.

" We did always say we'd choose reincarnation, didn't we? "

Their whole beings ache enough to make their heads spin. They feel it calling for them, their other halves, and it takes every fiber of determination they can muster not to dissolve here and there and join them.

For a few minutes, they'd felt right. They'd felt _whole_.

(But they can't leave Nico behind, can they?)

 

* * *

 

Their mistake is to treat Nico like a kid.

Nico is a kid who saw his sister leave to never come back at the age of ten. He'd plotted murder the very next year in hope to bring her back. He'd been through _Tartarus_.

He picks up quickly enough that something is wrong. And Nico, being Nico, confront them.

 

* * *

 

They talk. A little.

 

* * *

 

They argue. A lot.

 

* * *

 

~~(They weep. All three of them.)~~

 

* * *

 

It's a goodbye.

 

* * *

 

Jason's eyes widen as large as plates.

Piper's mouth open in an audible gasp.

 

* * *

 

If anyone asked Rachel -which has a 0% chance of happening, because who cares about what the mortal think when it's not prophecy-related? Well, Thalia does, but that's what girlfriends are for. Her point still stand- but if anyone asked Rachel, she could tell you a lot of things, about mended cracks, about gentle lights, about the beauty of silence.

She could, but she would probably settle to something shorter, like " I'm happy they found what they needed. " Because she is.

And maybe it's not perfect, maybe eyes turn gray or green at times, maybe they happen to refer to world war two as if they were there, maybe Piper takes longer swims than she used to and Jason stares at the Athena cabin when no one else is looking. But they're not broken anymore, and Rachel is so, so happy for them on this point.

Nobody asks, and Rachel watches.

It's good enough this way.

 

* * *

 

 

In 1944, Annabeth and Percy die in Tartarus.

In 2008, Jason and Piper are finally whole.

 

**Author's Note:**

> Yeah I don't know either
> 
> Leave a review in passing!!


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